Costco Wholesale releases latest earnings, membership numbers hit new highs

Produced by / Lian Shang Translation Center

Translated by / Li Yan

On March 6th, global warehouse retail giant Costco Wholesale announced its second-quarter earnings for fiscal year 2026. Overall, several key indicators exceeded market expectations, demonstrating steady performance.

In the second quarter, Costco’s total revenue reached $69.6 billion( approximately 480.89 billion RMB), higher than the market estimate of $69.27 billion( approximately 478.61 billion RMB), a year-over-year increase of 9.2%. Net sales were $68.24 billion( approximately 471.48 billion RMB), up 9.1% year-over-year. Excluding the impact of oil price fluctuations and exchange rates, global same-store sales grew 6.7% year-over-year, surpassing the previous forecast of 6.4%. Customer traffic increased by 3.1%, and average transaction size rose by 4.2%.

Regionally, adjusted same-store sales in the U.S. increased 6.4%, Canada grew 7.6%, and other international markets increased 7.1%. Notably, this year’s Chinese Lunar New Year was later than usual, contributing an additional approximately 4 percentage points to overseas market sales.

In terms of net profit, the second quarter recorded $2.04B( approximately 14.06 billion RMB), a 13.8% increase year-over-year, with diluted earnings per share of $4.58( approximately 31.6 RMB), both surpassing market expectations. For the first six months of fiscal year 2026, net profit totaled $4.04B( approximately 27.89 billion RMB), up 12.6% year-over-year, with diluted earnings per share of $9.08( approximately 62.7 RMB).

Membership business remains the core engine of Costco’s profit growth. In the second quarter, membership fee income rose to $1.36B( approximately 9.36 billion RMB), up 13.6% year-over-year; after adjusting for exchange rates, the increase was 12.2%.

As of the end of the quarter, Costco’s global paid membership total reached 82.1 million, a 4.8% increase year-over-year; among them, elite members numbered 40.4 million, up 9.5%; total cardholders reached 147.2 million, an increase of 4.7%. Regarding renewal rates, the renewal rate in the U.S. and Canada was 92.1%, a slight decrease of 0.1 percentage points from the previous quarter; the global renewal rate was 89.7%, unchanged from the last quarter.

Management stated that the monthly launch of $10( approximately 69.1 RMB) instant discount coupons for online shopping, extended store hours, and new member benefits are effectively encouraging member upgrades. Additionally, the company is currently digesting a strong influx of new members from a year ago. As these members gradually become active, the momentum of member growth is expected to remain strong.

Furthermore, Costco’s digital business performed particularly well. E-commerce sales in the second quarter increased by 22.6% year-over-year, with a 21.7% increase after excluding exchange rate effects, making it the fastest-growing segment among all business areas. During the earnings call, management revealed that ongoing upgrades to mobile payment systems, the launch of pharmacy prepayment features, employee pre-scan technology, and a pilot self-checkout device that takes only 8 seconds on average are continuously enhancing the member shopping experience.

In terms of retail media, Costco has begun generating substantial revenue from digital advertising, maintaining double-digit growth. However, management admitted that the retail media business is still in its early stages, with primary focus on creating greater value for members rather than blindly pursuing business models that do not align with the company’s positioning.

As of the end of the second quarter, Costco operated a total of 924 warehouse stores worldwide, covering markets such as the U.S. and Puerto Rico( 634 stores), Canada( 114 stores), Mexico( 42 stores), Japan( 37 stores), the UK( 29 stores), South Korea( 20 stores), Australia( 15 stores), and mainland China( 7 stores), among others, with e-commerce platforms operating simultaneously in these key markets.

Regarding future expansion, CEO Ron Vachris clearly stated that in fiscal year 2026, the company expects to open 28 new stores net, with a medium- to long-term goal of opening more than 30 stores annually. Canada is viewed as a key expansion market, and the international market also holds promising prospects—whenever Costco enters markets like Japan or China, the number of new members tends to surge significantly.